Business Discrimination Study Out

The ‘good old boy’ network in contracting is alive and well in San Antonio, and the relative stranglehold it has prevents small, minority- and women-owned firms from competing on a level playing field, a city-funded study has found.

The report, which bears the catchy name of “San Antonio Regional Business Disparity Causation Analysis Study,” measures how effective 10 local governmental entities have been in “reducing or eliminating any marketplace barriers that negatively affect contracting opportunities for disadvantaged, minority and women-owned business enterprises.” In other words, the study measured whether minority and women-owned businesses are getting a fair shake on contracting opportunities. So it’s a pretty big deal.

Not surprisingly, the study’s authors, nationally recognized experts in the field, found that while the city is doing OK in making sure that contractors include minority and women-owned firms as their city project sub-contractors, those same minority firms fared poorly when it came to being hired for commercial construction jobs.

The study found that even the city is underutilizing minority and women-owned firms when it comes to letting bids to have such firms be prime contractors on construction jobs. Women and Hispanic-owned construction firms fared well when it came to winning subcontracts on city jobs, the study found.

City Manager Sheryl Sculley said that “but not for the efforts of the city, utilization rates” in getting minority businesses a share of the pie would be significantly lower. She is pressing her case in a series of public meetings over the next two weeks.

She said the study points to the need to have the city expand outreach and monitoring efforts to insure greater minority firm participation in city projects. The expectation is that as more minority firms become subcontractors, general contractors will increasingly turn to them on commercial jobs as well.

City Attorney Michael Bernard said that without a city-led effort to publicize the study, get community input and change perspectives, “the city runs the risk of being a passive participant” in a pattern of excluding minority firms.

Besides the city, Bexar County, CPS Energy; Port Authority of San Antonio; University Health System; San Antonio Water System; Brooks Development Authority; San Antonio Housing Authority and Alamo Regional Mobility participated in the study, which measured the participation of African American; Hispanic-American, Asian-American; Native American and women-owned firms.

The City Council is to be briefed on the report’s findings at its “B” session Wednesday afternoon.